baby’s felt quiet book

By funky, I mean a few things. The first is that I spent a week “off” of being sick. In a funk. The second is that I spent the next two weeks-ish elbow deep in felt and needles and thread and “watch instantly” shows on Netflix.

This second sort of funky resulted in a felt garland for baby’s room and a few good cries on the couch during shows where someone I didn’t want to die does, or two people I want to be together aren’t, or where two people who you KNOW have been meant to be together FINALLY tell each other how they feel and live happily ever after. You know, the sort of thing my heart would usually just ache for, but during my third trimester of pregnancy induces tears which then cause me to laugh out loud at the fact that I’m crying which makes me cry harder. It’s all very complicated. Funky, even.

Oh, and did I mention I finished a quiet book?

Anyone who reads this blog (or even just this post, for that matter) knows I’m a crazy person. One of my crazy habits is that I LOVE hand-sewing with felt. Don’t ask me why–I just find it relaxing and satisfying. I’ve made a few of these before, but it was really fun to make one FOR MY OWN BABY.

(Can you believe that she’ll probably be here in 8 weeks? I can’t either.)

Anyway, I thought I’d give you a quick look through the book. We kept it gender-neutral so that it wasn’t too girly if our next baby is a boy. Prepare yourself for lots of pictures…

Lion (lots of different textures and colors in the mane to touch)Alligator (mouth zips open and closed)Frog (tongue can catch flies)Butterfly (wings can flap)Fish (can snap on and off the page, or twirl around on a snap to spin in a circle)Owl (baby owl hiding under a wing)Monkey (banana peels to open)Back Cover

Which page is your favorite?I can’t get enough of that owl page. I love it!

I love the lion page!! So colorful and so many ribbons. I am jealous of your awesome talent, I don’t really know how to hand sew very well, and I don’t know how to work with felt at all. Why don’t we live closer right now!?

Oh, and I am the same way with shows sometimes. While I was catching up on Psych (do you watch that show?) I was in complete agony every episode wanting Shawn and Juliet to get together. And I’ve been watching Scrubs (not the best, but still gets a laugh sometimes) and whenever somebody dies in the hospital I get so choked up! That really gets me.

This is awesome! I have a 21 month old and have been working on an alphabet felt book for her. I am now up to F. I keep saying that I better get more done or she will get to kindergarten and only know a-f. Yours is so darling. I love all of the little details. I do not like hand sewing, so mine is done with as much machine as possible. I may have to steal your lion idea for L!! That is my favorite!!

Cassey–I didn’t actually use a pattern… I just kind of sketched something on a piece of paper, then cut it out and traced around it on the felt. I’d LOVE to figure out how to MAKE a pattern so I could share it. I’m just not very familiar with how to do that sort of thing. If I figure it out though, I promise to post it here!

I’m in love, I’m in love, and I DON’T care who knows it!! Luke LOVES his book, and I kind of love the shooting knives of jealousy I get at church That owl nearly brought me to tears. It is SO so SOOO cute!! Well done. Your kids are the luckiest.

PS I didn’t really experience the third trimester sobbies until about 2 days before Luke was born. Tyler broke his phone (by biting his phone) and I bawled for a good two hours. It wasn’t even my phone. It was the weirdest feeling ever. So out of control..

This is without doubt the most stunning quiet book I have ever seen! You can see the love that went into its creation in every page. We are going to start trying for a baby towards the end of this year and this is exactly the type of thing I hope to create for when our own little one eventually comes along.
The next 8 weeks will undoubtedly pass incredibly quickly for you and I’m on the same count down! I’m getting married on the 16th April

de-lurking to say WOW. I see that you don’t have a pattern but I love it and if you don’t mind I am going to steal the idea.
Thanks for inspiration today and all the other days I’ve read your creative posts!
Laura

Emily,
So so cute. When you first posted about the first book you made, I went out and bought some felt to start one of my own, but wasn’t exactly sure what the actual pages were made of and what type of felt. So here are some questions for you so that I can hopefully start mine…
Do you get the regular “soft felt” or the kind that has like a card board inside for the actual pages? (or is there a special felt that you buy that’s not just the craft stuff that comes in sheets?)
How did you find was the best way to bind the pages together?
Some of the animals are stuffed, but did you put stuffing in all of them?
Or if it is easier to call me I would love to chat seeing as it has been way too long
Love ya and can’t wait to see cute baby girl

1. I use regular plain ol’ soft felt rather than the stiffened kind. For the cream-colored background felt, I used wool felt, like they sell on bolts at Jo-Anns. It’s slightly higher quality and a bit sturdier. If you like, you can use that for all your felt. I only used it for the cream backgrounds. Almost all the other felt is just from the little sheets they sell pre-cut that are made from recycled bottles.

2. For binding, I sew pages together 2-3 at a time into little groupings (i.e. the red page and the green page sewn together and the blue page and back cover together) then do one line of stitching to bind all the groupings together. I would recommend hand-sewing this part, even if you machine-sew the rest, since it can be hard for a machine to get through that many layers of felt. Next I cut a strip of felt to use as the binding (here I chose green). Using straight pins, I positioned the green felt to act as a binder around all the pages. Then I sewed a small rectangle around the green fabric to connect all the pages together. Does that make sense? You can call or email me if it doesn’t…

3. I didn’t stuff all the animals. I did anytime I wanted a little extra texture, but most things I wanted to remain flat (i.e. the fish bowl water, the alligator, the branches behind the owls). I’ve found if you stuff everything the book can get REALLY fat really fast, but if you just choose a few things to stuff, it stays manageable.

Hope that helps! Again, feel free to post any other questions, or you can email or call me any time.

ok, as I started to get my things organized and a plan set out I thought of a few more questions…
-what are the sizes of your pages?
-have you found a certain type of threat works best? (I will probably be doing most of it by hand)
-On the owl wing and banana did you do a seam around the edge that flaps ? (would it make it more stable?
-when sewing the cream pages to the colored felt how did you do both sides? Was it all three at once?
Sorry I am the worst and I can’t find your email address and when we switched cell carriers apparently I lost your number. Please forgive me I hope you are well and thanks so much for the idea and all the help with my gazillion questions!

1. I used the colored sheets you can buy pre-cut to use for sizing. Then I cut the cream-colored background sheets down to leave about a 1/2″ border for the colored sheet to show through. Not very scientific, but there you go.

2. I have used a basic all-purpose thread. I asked the lady at the sewing counter what she thought, and she told me it really wouldn’t make much difference whether I used a polyester or cotton thread. Some of the colors I have are polyester and some are a cotton blend. I haven’t noticed a difference in how well they hold up and all of them seem to be easy to sew with.

3. I did sew a little seam at the fold of where the banana folds but didn’t do one around the top border of the peel. You can kind of see in the picture. The owl wing was stuffed, so I made it separate from the rest of the owl’s body and then attached it once it was stuffed with a seam. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense.

4. When attaching the cream colored sheets to the colored backgrounds, I pinned them onto the colored sheet so they matched up as well as possible. Then I sewed the whole sandwich (cream sheet, colored sheet, cream sheet) together all at the same time. I’ve found it’s easier to get a neat stitch this way.

I’m a little late to the game but I LOVE this and I’m making one of my own so this was timely. Will be borrowing some of your great ideas (or borrowing and altering) and will be crediting you on my blog. What a creative lady you are.

Dawn, thank you! You’re so sweet. I actually hand-made it from a pattern I made up. I don’t sell them, but if you’re looking to purchase a quiet book pattern, Etsy is a great resource. I’d try this shop, or this one.

Mari–Thanks for the compliment! Because I hand-sewed it, it took much longer than it would have if I’d done it with a machine, but I’d say it was close to 20 hours. That’s with cutting, piecing, and hand-stitching. Definitely a labor of love, but it was worth it. With a machine, you could complete the sewing in much less time.

Hi Emily,
I just found your quiet book while searching through pinterest. Do you happen to have a pattern and tutorial for your book? My daughter would love every single page you created. I’m trying to make her one for Christmas and my drawing skills are slim to none. This turned out so cute. If you do have pattern/tutorial could you email me at nicole_girl202006@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Nicole

Nicole, I’m so sorry, I don’t have a pattern! I just drew things on paper, cut them out as templates, and traced them onto the felt. I don’t really know how to make a pattern, but I’ve had several requests. If I get it figured out, I’ll email you!

I’ve been doing a lot of research on quiet books, as I am making one for my friend who is expecting her first baby. This is by far my favorite! You are so talented. Here is a ridiculous question for you…Did you wash all of the felt before you use it? I thought about washing everything before I sew it since it will more than likely end up in baby’s mouth but then I wonder if the felt will handle that very well. Just thought I’d get your thoughts. Thanks!!

Love this quiet book! I have a few friends that are having babies so I thought this would be agreat gift. I am doing some of the same aniimals as you, but I added or changed a few as well. I was just wondering, how did you sew the lion to the tan felt? I’m having trouble with that??

Kate- I actually cut out the lion face and did all the face embroidery, and cut out all the ribbon strips. First, I sewed all the ribbon to the background, then when it was all secured, I attached the lion face over the ribbons, sewing it all the way through the ribbon and the background page. Does that make sense? Hope that helps!

Love your book!
Have you ever used the stick it felt shapes you can buy? I was wondering how they would hold up? I thought it might save a little time in cutting out letters and numbers.
Great job! Love the pictues!

Probably no surprise to anyone, but the best way we’ve ever put together busy books is to get a group of interested people together with the patterns. Each person chooses one (or two!) pages and “assembly line” sews them for the number of people in the group. 10 people? Make 10 pages! Then get back together and exchange pages. It’s loads easier to make 10 of one page, then try to do each page by yourself and it’s less time-intensive as well. My kids are all grown and their busy books in storage, so now I need to get some other grandmothers to do it with me! I would recommend sewing two felt pieces together with sturdy stabilizer – felt will stretch on it’s own, especially with little hands pulling them on / off pages. Best wishes!

I found this on Pinterest and it is just sooo adorable! I love it. I love quiet books in general, but I think this is one of my favorites so far; it’s so simple and inspiring. I have to say, I’m crazy like you: I really enjoying hand sewing with felt as well. It is very satisfying.

So cute! You did a great job. I will add this to the queue of things to make for my girls. I love hand sewing felt, too! I made one of those card table playhouses and some felt food but this looks like a fun project for my littlest one!

I love your quiet book! I want to make one for my grand daughter Olivia for Christmas this year. My thought is to start simple because she is just about a year old and then each year add a few more pages. Would you share how you bound your book? Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas. I loved the lion!

Hi there I adore this quiet book of yours! I can see how much effort your put into this. I don’t have a sewing machine so it’s good to know I can still make something like this without one. JUst a question about sewing though – what kind of stitch did you use? Just in and out straight down the line, or did you loop back while doing the in-and-out? Sorry I don’t know the proper terms so hopefully you understand what I mean. Thanks!

Also is there an easier way of sewing on velcro? It’s so hard to thread through and I’ve already bent one of my needles. My baby is not at the stage of using snaps properly so velcro seems to be the best way to connect items at the moment

Melody: I’ve had some difficulty with velcro too… one suggestion is to use an embroidery needle (which is thicker, stronger, etc.). That’s what I did, but if you’d rather not and you do have a machine, you can use a machine to sew it on. Otherwise, they sell stick-on velcro, which might save you the hassle. Best of luck!!!

This book is beautiful! I love it! I know what you mean about hand sewing felt. I feel the same way. I’ve made my kids lots of little stuffed animals out of felt and for some reason, I don’t get the same sense of peace and accomplishment when I use a machine. Plus, trying to sew the little details on my machine is a headache for me, so I’d rather just sew it by hand. This book is great though. Kudos.

Joy – Here’s what I wrote to another reader with the same question. Hope it helps!

2. For binding, I sew pages together 2-3 at a time into little groupings (i.e. the red page and the green page sewn together and the blue page and back cover together) then do one line of stitching to bind all the groupings together. I would recommend hand-sewing this part, even if you machine-sew the rest, since it can be hard for a machine to get through that many layers of felt. Next I cut a strip of felt to use as the binding (here I chose green). Using straight pins, I positioned the green felt to act as a binder around all the pages. Then I sewed a small rectangle around the green fabric to connect all the pages together. Does that make sense? You can email me if it doesn’t…

Emily! I totally love this…and I don’t even have kids! I know I want to make this when one of my sisters/cousins has a baby. I think I’ll even make one ahead of time for my future kids. I just love how each page has something special about it. Great discovery for kids. Also, the felt makes it pretty durable. Great idea and awesome designs!

Dorothy – The flies are sewn onto the page, with little snaps on their wings. The tongue is the part that moves from fly to fly (also with a little snap on the end). Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any questions! Happy to help!

Beautiful book and beautiful handcraft work! I did make a similar book after being inspired by you. My pinking shears dulled after cutting a couple pages and did not work. When I went to purchase another one, the directions indicated felt is the worst thing to cut with a pinking shears. I also asked the advice of the individual cutting fabric at Jo-Ann’s and they repeated the sentiment. So reluctantly, I restarted and did my project with all straight edges. How did you accomplish your entire book with a pinking shears. Did you do anything special to keep it from doing that? Any advice is appreciated, I really prefer the “pinked” edges.

I did notice some dulling, but I had a friend suggest cutting a piece of foil in-between every few pages. Not sure whether it was a placebo effect, but it got me through making a few books! Hope that helps!

Hi! I love this quiet book, and I’d like to try to make one for my daughter. I saw in a previous comment that you said you’d try to make a pattern for this. Since I am just starting out with sewing/crafting, I was wondering if you did have the pattern or an “easy” step-by-step explanation of how you did this?
Thank you in advance for your answer!
Haleigh